Valve Cover Cleaner..?

[MRB43]

Would anyone be willing to offer a suggestion as to the best way to clean the valve cover on my 280 so that I go from the before to the after picture?  I understand that polished is not a great idea as it impedes heat dissipation - but brightening it up a bit would certainly be nice.

[Rolland]

I would also like to find out as well as cleaning up the intake manifold. 

Rolland

[tel76]

When i wanted mine cleaning i masked the interior of the rocker cover and the inlet manifold and had them  blasted using fine glass beads that were obtained for ally: do not be tempted to use sand.
When i got them back i gave them a good soaking in engine cleaner and then used the power wash.

[MRB43]

"...that were obtained for ally."

What do you mean by this?

Thanks.

[jacovdw]

I think Eric meant to say glass beads used specially for cleaning aluminium.

I agree, DO NOT USE sand as a blasting medium. That is one way of guaranteeing destroyed parts and heartache associated with that.

If I remember correctly, this was discussed a couple of years ago as well and I think that chemical cleaners can also be used. Try searching through old posts.

A fellow member of the Mercedes Club here in South Africa has used an ultrasonic bath cleaner on the valve cover with great success. Might be another option to consider.

[Khurram Darugar]

In addition to the above comments.
Once you get them back from the blaster they should look new.
However even mild handling in the garage can place prints which need to be removed with a cleaner solvent.

I sprayed the valve cover and the intake manifold with VHT High Temp satin finish clear coat.  Now its way easier to keep clean and long standing marks no longer penetrate into the aluminium. 

Kay

[mdsalemi]

I think "ally" meant aluminum or aluminium as it were.

Any kind of blasting, be it sand, glass, or any other media, will be somewhat invasive and change the texture.  You don't really need this; you are simply trying to remove grease, grime and then oxidation.

I don't think that the "heat dissapation" is really much of an issue; some like the polished look, and if that is what you want, by all means...

But if you want to go back to freshly cast aluminum look, I can offer you two solutions--both of which will require you to remove the valve cover.

The first is a strong acid cleaner using "aluminum brightener".  You'd have to go to a car wash supply house, or chemical supply house, because what you want is Hydroflouric Acid based.  You will find some similar products over the counter at auto supply stores; in the USA, Hot Rims is one that comes to mind.  Go to the shelves that house the wheel cleaners, and frankly, look for the bottle with the most severe warnings on it; that will be the strong stuff.  What that does is basically eat and dissolve the dirt, grease and grime like nobody's business; then begin to attack the surface of the aluminum, making it bright.  It's pretty nasty stuff.  A basic wash (like baking soda) will arrest the process.  There are some products out there that are not HF based; I don't know how well they work.  I have experience in using the strong stuff; it was the only product that removed grime from the walls of a car wash.  See my links below, any search for "aluminum brightener" will give you a better idea of the products out there.

Once you get it clean and bright, you can have the valve cover powder coated with a satin clear coat.  A good powder coater will be able to help you choose.  Many hot rodders and others with fancy show cars do this kind of thing all the time.  Properly done and chosen, you'll never be able to tell.  Or leave it as it is--once clean, it will be somewhat easier to keep clean but it will eventually go back to dull gray.

The second solution is to simply have it powder coated in a fresh-cast aluminum look.  I've seen these, too--and you would have to look very, very close to determine that it isn't fresh aluminum.

Some links:

http://www.ankosales.com/aluminum-brightener.html
http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/albrite.html
http://www.orisonmarketing.com/corrosion/aluminator/aluminator.html

[MRB43]

Thanks to all!

Much appreciated.

[wwheeler]

I did both clear powder coat and silver powder coat. What you choose really depends on what you want to accomplish. I wanted to brighten up the engine compartment but keep it stock looking. I also wanted a durable finish.

The first picture #2791 is semigloss clear on bare aluminum. The color was a bit blotchy and when seen in the engine bay with usual dullish lighting, it wasn't as bright as I had hoped. I did look original though.

I then powder coated the cover using Tiger-drylac Bengal Silver (#8220096). Of course the color was consistant and more importantly, really brightened up the engine bay. It didn't look so far away from stock that it attracted a lot of attention. It is too bright for an original purist, but it is also not "highly polished". Most people don't know that it is not an original finish. The flash from the camera makes it sparkle more than in normal light.

Soon, I will do the intake the same way.  

[CraigS]

Best way to do them is by wet blasting. Search Google for Wet blasting or Wet blasters. You will often find that those doing soda blasting will also do wet blasting. Only thing to be careful of is the amount of Magnesium in the valve cover. Get them to check by cleaning the inside first. If a high Magnesium content, it will turn black. They can also add an inhibitor to prevent corrosion, but they will still require maintenance with something like Nevr Dull.

Here is the company I used in Australia. Not much good for you, but it might help to understand the process.

http://www.wetblasting.net/

[SL113fan]

@Wwheeler:  Your yellow Cad looks great; where did you have that done?

I did both clear powder coat and silver powder coat. What you choose really depends on what you want to accomplish. I wanted to brighten up the engine compartment but keep it stock looking. I also wanted a durable finish.

The first picture #2791 is semigloss clear on bare aluminum. The color was a bit blotchy and when seen in the engine bay with usual dullish lighting, it wasn't as bright as I had hoped. I did look original though.

I then powder coated the cover using Tiger-drylac Bengal Silver (#8220096). Of course the color was consistant and more importantly, really brightened up the engine bay. It didn't look so far away from stock that it attracted a lot of attention. It is too bright for an original purist, but it is also not "highly polished". Most people don't know that it is not an original finish. The flash from the camera makes it sparkle more than in normal light.

Soon, I will do the intake the same way.  

[wwheeler]

Thanks for the compliment. I had it done at a local plater (Texas Precision Plating) and it is yellow CAD. There are some small parts that are yellow zinc that I did at home with the Caswell kit. 

I also coat the freshly plated surfaces with Eastwood's bare metal satin clear. It does scratch but provides another level of oxidation protection. The clear will dissolve itself when more is applied on an old coating. So you can go back and repair a scratch without too much build up.

I have tried to coat older plated surfaces with the clear but it just traps the contaiments that are there and it blooms. Freshly plated surfaces work the best.

[69280sl]

Wallace:

What is your experience and opinion of the Caswell outfit. I am mostly interested in doing small items like nuts and linkage bits.
Thanks
Gus

[stickandrudderman]

I have my parts vapour blasted; they come out looking like they've just been cast.
Be careful when using ali bright; it's great on aluminium but makes a mess of your freshly plated parts!

[wwheeler]

Gus,

The Caswell kit can make plated parts look as good as the pros. There are a lot of variables. For instance, large parts with large flat areas tend to come out a little streaky. For small parts like what your talking about, come out great. You can do yellow zinc, clear (a hint of blue) zinc and black zinc. The one caution is not to overplate threaded parts such as bolts or the threads will be too tight. If that happens, you can simply dip the part in Muratic acid to strip the plating completely off.

It is a kit that requires some fiddling and is not a plug and play kind of thing. I personally enjoy plating the parts kind of like a chemistry set. It is not necessarily dangerous but you do have to be smart about handling the chemicals. It is not cheap but for the long term, I think it is worth it. If you are interested, I wrote up a procedure that I use so I don't forgot the details after a long hiatus.

The best thing about having the kit is that you can restore a component and not have to wait or pay the large minimum for a plater. I have found the durability as good as the pros. Do not buy the Eastwood kit as it is tin/zinc and does not hold up. Ask me how I know! The Caswell people support the product and I have had a good experience with them. I hope this helps.